Ranunculus

Rhodies in the Park

.
After the ubiquitous rhododendrons on the coast, it is a pleasure to see that people in the city have used some creativity in landscaping, but these red rhodies in Cathedral Park looked just right peeking out from between some hardwoods.
.
Enjoying a lazy day before going to work tonight.
.
Rose

Mayflowers

.

Pink Dogwood are prolific in our neighborhood. In this particular yard tulips and forest hyacinths bloom all around. I can't write anything good. It's my birthday, and I want some junk food.

.

Rose

.

p.s.- oh, and I'm going to see the Mayflower II this summer.

Red-stemmed Filaree

Erodium cicatarium

~

This common, non-native yard weed goes by two names: filaree or storksbill. I can't decide which I prefer, but I love to find the beauty in common yard weeds.

~

rc

Mottled Trillium

.
After fourteen hours of sleep last night, I'm in much better spirits today. We took the bus downtown for a bite to eat and to run some errands. I had penne pasta with butternut squash, spinach, and mushrooms in a cream sauce followed by tiramisu for dessert at Pastini Pastaria . jc isn't as fond of looking out the bus window and walking in the rain as I am, but I had a grand time.
.
(picture from Camassia Natural Area)
.
Rose

Unseasonable

Western Serviceberry Amelanchier alnifolia (thanks NW nature nut)

.

There was snow and hard frost forecast for parts of the city last night. I don't know whether it transpired, but I think we're all ready for spring. I'm headed for the coast for a few days for work, so I'm hoping the weather is nice there. If anyone knows what the tree pictured above is, by all means chime in; I couldn't find it.
.
Rose
.
* Change in plans: staying in town for the weekend. So far today we've had snow pellets, rain, and sunshine.
rc

The Dancer

Oregon fawn lily Erythronum oregonum- native

~

We hopped on the downtown bus yesterday with a few errands to run, and made a trip to the Portland Art Museum. The lovely special exhibit, The Dancer, is on display. It features studies of dancers, mostly ballerinas done by Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Forain. The collection is inspiringly beautiful, and worth much more than the hour or so that we spent viewing it. Here is my favorite; significantly less beautiful and impressive in its diminutive, unframed form.

~

We spontaneously took a different bus route home, which of course worked out just fine, and got us home a few minutes earlier, since we eliminated a wait.

~

Rose

Pretty Carbs

Common Camas Camassia Quamash- native

~

Camassia Natural Area is named for this grass-like plant. Most of the flowers weren't open yet when I visited. Camas was a major food source for the native inhabitants of the Pacific Northwest. They used the bulbs as a starch food source and actually cultivated the plant.

~

rc

Old Lava

Sea blush Plectritis congesta (native)

.
Camassia Natural Area is the home of an ancient lava flow. The rock formations reminded me of something from The Hobbit. So I guess you could call it a "rock garden".
.
Rose

Warmth

~
After a few summery days, the town is bursting with blooms. This one is on the deck though.
~
Drinking in the beauty all around,
~
Rose

Western Trillium

trillium ovatum

As Promised

.
I'm enjoying a perfectly relaxing day with nothing whatsoever to do. I don't county unpacking those annoying little boxes of stuff that has no perfect place to go, because I'm going to continue to ignore them.
.
Rose

On the Verge

Blooms coming soon.
.
rc

Spring Blooms

.

I saw the first Violet-Green Swallows of the year today, swooping extravagantly over the Willamette River. And spring blooms are everywhere.

.

Rose

Lawn Daisy

Ironically enough, I sprayed the driveway for weeds (like lawn daisies) today, but the best picture of the day, shooting with my new-to-me 70-210 zoom lens, was this lawn daisy. The ones I sprayed in the driveway hadn't bloomed yet, making the act of mass herbicide much more palatable. A few blooming weeds in the driveway were actually spared.

.

Who decides what is a weed or a flower? My neighbor mercilessly uproots johnny-jump-ups in the lawn. To me they are lovely. My thoughts inevitably wander to the human corollary. Who gets to decide who is a good or bad person, worthy of life, or citizenship, or enrollment in elite clubs? I confess to my own fair share of snobbery. I like people who are clean, and pretty, and fit, and above all intelligent.

.

How often do I overlook someone who might bloom beautifully because the foliage is unsightly or unwanted?

.

rc

Dearth

My blogging has been abyssmal, and my new excuse is that the camera batteries will no longer hold a charge and I am forced to resort to pictures from my archives that were not deemed either good enough to publish or bad enough to throw away. I had an unusually bad period this week when I was supposed to be having fun. I've recovered however, and we're headed for Portland today for a conference tomorrow. I'm hoping that civilization will have a new camera battery, thus reigniting my creativity.
.
rc

Sometimes it Feels Like Three AM

Pacific aster aster chilensis (native)

~

I've neglected mowing the grassy lot next door during the dry months of summer. My reward is this lovely large clump of asters that have grown up and bloomed as a result. Asters are my favorite, and I'll take it over a grassy expanse any day.

~

I find myself getting antsy when I don't work as much as I'm used to. Poor jc gets tortured by my snippiness over everything from dirty dishes in the sink to completely inane things not worth mentioning. I smoke the odd cigarette and enjoy the momentary calm that chemicals bring. I play the piano, sometimes giving up in the middle of a song to look for something else to divert my attention. When it gets bad enough, I do the dishes or some other household chore. I make one thousand trips out the back door, down the three steps, across the little yard, and up three steps into jc's shed office, where I sit down briefly before getting up and pacing over to look out the door.

~

Lest my inbox fill with compassionate notes, varying from heartfelt sympathy to well-meant advice, I must disclaim. These lapses of discontented boredom invariably dissipate into nothingness when some event, known or unknown, (in this case writing it down) brings an end to the wandering.

~

Rose

Autumn Flowers

I shot these flowers at the Shore Acres gardens a few weeks ago. I'm posting them today because they look so much like autumn and I can't wait for the rain to start.

Rose

Random Post

I stopped at the roadside to photograph this flower because I was looking for chocolate tips or fernleaf lomatium, but this isn't it. I don't know what it is, however. It looks a little like purple sanicle too, but I don't think it is.

rc

.

I made clover rolls for Dahlia Man tonight. What a pleasure to spend time with someone who thinks you're beautiful and smart and also likes your cooking. How much better to be a girl like me who's got more than one guy like that.